"I consume therefore I am not....

I've long been unhappy with the use of the word consumer. The other day I realised one reason for this. It creates the idea of humans as having no function or desires beyond consumption. It transforms a moment of 'consumption' into an ontology, a defining characteristic of personhood. You're a consumer when you look at an advertisment and therefore for the rest of the day? Is human subjectivity so constrained? Much writing about marketing and 'consumers' appears to suggest this is so. What the word obscures is all the other interest stuff beyond the moment of consumption - the play, the meaning making and creativity and the culture that make it what it is...

Matt Jones looks for another word, and tries out individual. It sort of works. This reminds me that there's a great paper by Ginny Valentine and Wendy Gordon on the limitations of the word consumer and how dangerous is becomes even for those seeking to influence, sell to and 'target' 'their' consumers: the 21st century consumer. Well worth a read."

[The Ideas Bazaar]

Great points and links from Simon Roberts.  Am wondering now, if Markets are Conversations, what does that make us : consumers-no, users-no, individuals - hmmmm maybe !

An afterthought - mulling over this some more - it might depend on area of business.  For instance, in retail, the reason that 'consumer' gets used is because the provider of the goods has to go through a retailer or some other channel and needs to differentiate between customer and user or consumer.  When your customer is not the end customer then you need a word to describe the dialogue you are having - i make cereal, I sell to Foodland - Foodland sells for me.  I want them to sell more and need to have a discussion about their customers.  I can't use the word customer because Foodland is my customer.  I could talk shoppers but then I am referring only to their business.  In order to influence them I have to talk broader - about the markets and volumes they may be missing out on, that is in both our interests.  Thus the word consumers - consumers may or may not be Foodland shoppers, it keeps us on mutual ground, and can focus on serving both our interests better. 

In the same vein, i might provide consumer research that goes beyond just store research to try and engage a dialogue and influence the chain of customers/individuals/users that make my product successful.

OK .... this is really exciting for me. And one of the main reasons for my absenteeism from blogging.

I've just bagged a large Ethnographic Research study from a client based in the US.  Two ethnographers and research consultants in the US (both have their own blogs too), with whom i have been exchanging conversations - Steve Portigal and Clynton Taylor independently forwarded to me an advertisement the client had put up on a Yahoo Group, looking for social science researchers for a project in India. And asked me to write to them if i was interested. 

I did.  And got the project. 

Thanks Steve, thanks Clynton ! The only bitch is i will have to spend a lot of time in Delhi in the midst of summer - where temperatures can be in the oppressive mid-40's (centigrade). 

This is the second project i have got as a result of joining social networks and of blogging.  Both projects are very different from the run-of-the-mill qualitative research studies we are accustomed to doing here, and there's going to be huge amounts of learning.  And have given me the opportunity to work on projects with researchers in different continents, with different approaches - thats pretty awesome too.

Also, between the two, a good sum of money from December to February ............ a very, very good sum, especially when converted into indian rupees.  And still counting!

What's interesting is, the initial connections were made with Clynton and Steve, through Ryze.  I met up with Clynton when in the Bay Area - and we had a good meeting.  And a wonderful time at a bloggers dinner too. Steve - next time for sure.

This time round, it wasn't the fact that i was first on a Google search for "qualitative researchers India", as was the case in the first project i landed.   This time, in my first letter to the Client, i sent them a short ppt presentation on my company, and a link to my blog - urging them to read it and pointing to relevant categories, as they are better reflections of my thoughts and current preoccupations.   And of the person they would be hiring.  Which is very important in the field of qualitative research and ethnography, as these fields tend to be researcher driven, as opposed to 'colder' corporate names and credentials.

Yes ! 

Blogging can pay.

Would love to hear your stories about how your blog has helped you bag a job, or a contract or projects, that you might not have got (or even heard about) otherwise.